Digital comic editor, method and non-transitory computer-readable medium

ABSTRACT

A digital comic editor comprising a speech bubble region addition device configured to add a new piece of speech bubble region information to the position indicated by the indication device, a speech bubble region deletion device configured to delete the speech bubble region information from the position indicated by the indication device, and an editing device configured to update the speech bubble region information included in the information file based on the speech bubble region information added by the speech bubble region addition device and the speech bubble region information deleted by the speech bubble region deletion device.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a digital comic editor, a method and a non-transitory computer-readable medium, particularly relates to an art to digitize comic contents.

2. Description of the Related Art

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-22269 discloses an apparatus which automatically detects speech bubbles from an image data of a comic. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-22269 also discloses an art which, when a speech bubble cannot be detected due to a missing portion of a border line in a speech bubble, detects the speech bubble by correcting the image data so as to eliminate the defect of the border line; and an art which draws a virtual extension line from a point where an outline (profile line) of a speech bubble is broken, and in which when the virtual extension line overlaps with the profile line, the profile line is determined as continuous, and thus, the speech bubble is detected automatically.

Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-22269 discloses an art which recognizes characters within a range of a speech bubble to thereby recognize a text.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-78923 discloses a comics editing support device which allows a user to attach a speech bubble at a desired position. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-78923 also discloses an art which inserts a text in a speech bubble, and when the text runs off the speech bubble, increases the region of the speech bubble.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

However, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-22269 discloses only a case where a speech bubble cannot be detected due to the missing portion of the border line in the speech bubble as a recovery method when a speech bubble cannot be detected. When a speech bubble cannot be detected due to another cause or when a speech bubble (speech bubble region) which is automatically detected is different from the speech bubble in an original content, the art cannot increase the speech bubble region or edit the speech bubble so as to be identical to the speech bubble in the original content.

The comics editing support device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-78923 inserts a speech bubble and words. However, the comics editing support device cannot be applied to a case where comic content is digitized.

The present invention has been proposed in view of the above circumstances. An object of the invention is to provide a digital comic editor, a method and a non-transitory computer-readable medium that, when digitizing a comic content, speech bubbles and texts and the like as a result of automatic detection can be checked, and the speech bubbles, texts and the like as the detection result can be easily edited based on the check result.

In order to achieve the above object, a digital comic editor according to an aspect of the invention includes a data acquisition device configured to acquires a piece of master data of a digital comic, the master data including: an image file corresponding to each page of the comic, the image file having a high resolution image of the entire page, and an information file corresponding to each page or all pages of the comic, the information file having described therein a piece of speech bubble information including a piece of speech bubble region information representing regions of speech bubbles for containing dialogs of characters in the image; a display control device configured to control a display device to display an image thereon based on the image file in the master data acquired by the data acquisition device and to display an image representing speech bubble regions based on the speech bubble region information included in the information file in the master data while superimposing the same on the image based on the image file; an indication device configured to indicate a position on the image displayed on the display device; a speech bubble region addition device configured to add a new piece of speech bubble region information to the position indicated by the indication device; a speech bubble region deletion device configured to delete the speech bubble region information from the position indicated by the indication device; and an editing device configured to update the speech bubble region information included in the information file based on the speech bubble region information added by the speech bubble region addition device and the speech bubble region information deleted by the speech bubble region deletion device.

According to an aspect of the invention, the master data of a digital comic, which includes an image file corresponding to each page of the comic, the image file having a high resolution image of the entire page, and an information file corresponding to each page or all pages of the comic, the information file having described therein a piece of speech bubble information including a piece of speech bubble region information representing regions of speech bubbles for containing dialogs of characters in the image, can be appropriately edited. In particular, the detection result of the speech bubbles can be modified by adding or deleting the speech bubble region information. With this, the speech bubble information included in the information file can be edited (updated). That is, an editor is allowed to visually view an image representing a speech bubble region which is displayed being superimposed on an image displayed on the display device to thereby check the present speech bubble region extraction result. When performing the editing to add or delete the speech bubble, an instruction to add a new speech bubble to a position indicated by the indication device or an instruction to delete a speech bubble at a position indicated by the indication device is given; thereby the speech bubble region information can be easily added or deleted. The frame region information included in the information file is updated based on the added or deleted speech bubble region information.

The digital comic editor according to another aspect of the invention further includes a speech bubble region detection device configured to detect a piece of closed region information for enclosing a periphery of the position indicated by the indication device as a piece of speech bubble region information, wherein the display control device controls to display an image representing the speech bubble region based on the speech bubble region information detected by the speech bubble region detection device while superimposing the same on the image based on the image file, and the speech bubble region addition device adds the speech bubble region information detected by the speech bubble region detection device.

In the digital comic editor according to yet another aspect of the invention, the speech bubble region information may be a piece of vector data representing an outer periphery edge of the speech bubble region or a piece of mask data representing the speech bubble region.

In the digital comic editor according to yet another aspect of the invention, the display control device controls to display an image of covered over speech bubble regions or an image drawn with the outer periphery edge of the speech bubble regions based on the speech bubble region information. With this, the speech bubble region can be distinguished from the others.

The digital comic editor according to yet another aspect of the invention further includes an image acquisition device configured to acquire an image file having a high resolution image of the entire page; a speech bubble region extraction device configured to analyze the image of the entire page acquired by the image acquisition device and automatically extracts the speech bubble regions in the image; an information file creation device configured to create an information file having described therein the speech bubble information which includes a piece of speech bubble region information representing a speech bubble region extracted by the speech bubble region extraction device; and a master data creation device configured to create a piece of master data of the digital comic, the master data including: an image file acquired by the image acquisition device for each page of the comic; and an information file corresponding to each page or all pages of the comic, which is created by the information file creation device, wherein the data acquisition device acquires a piece of master data created by the master data creation device.

To input the information or the like of every speech bubble region, an enormous workload is required. By automatically creating the master data, the master data can be created efficiently. When the master data is created automatically, some errors may exist in the speech bubble information described in the information file. According to the invention, erroneous speech bubble information can be easily modified.

In the digital comic editor according to yet another aspect of the invention, the speech bubble region extraction device includes a text detection device configured to detect texts in the image and detects closed regions enclosing the periphery of the texts detected by the text detection device as the speech bubble region. With this, erroneous detection of the speech bubble region is prevented.

A digital comic editor according to an aspect of the invention includes a data acquisition device configured to acquires a piece of master data of a digital comic, the master data including an image file corresponding to each page of the comic, the image file having a high resolution image of the entire page, and an information file corresponding to each page or all pages of the comic, the information file having described therein a piece of text region information representing text regions in the comic; a display control device configured to control display device to display an image thereon based on the image file in the master data acquired by the data acquisition device and to display an image representing text regions based on the text region information included in the information file in the master data while superimposing the same on the image based on the image file; an indication device configured to indicate a position on the image displayed on the display device; a text region addition device configured to add a new piece of text region information to the position indicated by the indication device; a text region deletion device configured to delete the text region information from the position indicated by the indication device; and an editing device configured to update the text region information included in the information file based on the text region information added by the text region addition device and the text region information deleted by the text region deletion device.

According to an aspect of the invention, the master data of a digital comic, which includes an image file corresponding to each page of the comic, the image file having a high resolution image of the entire page, and an information file corresponding to each page or all pages of the comic, the information file having described therein the text region information representing the text regions of the comic, can be appropriately edited. In particular, the text region is modified by adding or deleting the text region. With this, the text region information included in the information file can be edited (updated). That is, an editor is allowed to visually view an image representing the text region which is displayed being superimposed on an image displayed on the display device to thereby check the present text region extraction result. When performing the editing to add or delete the text region, an instruction to add a the new text region to a position indicated by the indication device or an instruction to delete a text region at a position indicated by the indication device is given; thereby the text region information can be easily added or deleted. The text region information included in the information file is updated based on the added or deleted text region information.

The digital comic editor according to yet another aspect of the invention further includes a text detection device configured to detect a text adjacent to a position indicated by the indication device; and a text region detection device configured to detect a piece of region information for enclosing a periphery of the text detected by the text detection device as a piece of text region information, wherein the display control device controls to display an image representing the text region based on the text region information detected by the text region detection device while superimposing the same on the image based on the image file, and the text region addition device adds the text region information detected by the text region detection device.

In the digital comic editor according to yet another aspect of the invention, the text region information may be a piece of coordinate data representing each vertex on an outer periphery edge of a polygonal shape in the text region, a piece of vector data representing the outer periphery edge of the text region or a mask data representing the text region.

In the digital comic editor according to yet another aspect of the invention, the display control device controls to display an image in which the text region is translucently covered over or an image in which the outer periphery edge of the text region is drawn based on the text region information. With this, the text region can be identified.

The digital comic editor according to yet another aspect of the invention further includes an image acquisition device configured to acquire an image file having a high resolution image of the entire page; a text region extraction device configured to analyze the image of the entire page acquired by the image acquisition device and automatically extracts the text regions in the image; an information file creation device configured to create an information file having described therein the text region information representing the text region extracted by the text region extraction device; and a master data creation device configured to create a piece of master data of the digital comic, the master data including: an image file acquired by the image acquisition device for each page of the comic; and an information file corresponding to each page or all pages of the comic, which is created by the information file creation device, wherein the data acquisition device acquires a piece of master data created by the master data creation device.

To input the information or the like of every information of the text regions, an enormous workload is required. By automatically creating the master data, the master data can be created efficiently. When the master data is created automatically, some errors may exist in the text information described in the information file. According to the invention, erroneous text region information can be easily modified.

A digital comic editor according to an aspect of the invention includes a data acquisition device configured to acquire a piece of master data of a digital comic, the master data including: an image file corresponding to each page of the comic, the image file having a high resolution image of the entire page, and an information file corresponding to each page or all pages of the comic, the information file having described therein a piece of region of interest information representing regions of interest in the comic; a display control device configured to control display device to display an image thereon based on the image file in the master data acquired by the data acquisition device and to display an image representing a region of interest based on the region of interest information included in the information file in the master data while superimposing the same on the image based on the image file; an indication device configured to indicate a position on the image displayed on the display device; a region of interest addition device configured to add a new piece of region of interest information to the position indicated by the indication device; a region of interest deletion device configured to delete the region of interest information from the position indicated by the indication device; and an editing device configured to update a piece of region of interest information included in the information file based on the region of interest information added by the region of interest addition device and the region of interest information deleted by the region of interest deletion device.

According to an aspect of the invention, the master data of a digital comic, which includes an image file corresponding to each page of the comic, the image file having a high resolution image of the entire page, and an information file corresponding to each page or all pages of the comic, the information file having described therein a piece of region of interest information representing regions of interest in the comic can be appropriately edited. In particular, the region of interest is modified by adding or deleting the region of interest information. With this, the region of interest information included in the information file can be edited (updated). That is, an editor is allowed to visually view an image representing the region of interest which is displayed being superimposed on an image displayed on the display device to thereby check the present region of interest extraction result. When performing the editing to add or delete the region of interest, an instruction to add a region of interest to a position indicated by the indication device or an instruction to delete a region of interest at a position indicated by the indication device is given; thereby the region of interest information can be easily added or deleted. The region of interest information included in the information file is updated based on the added or deleted region of interest information.

The digital comic editor according to yet another aspect of the invention further includes region of interest detection device which includes character detection device for detecting characters adjacent to a position indicated by the indication device and detects a piece of region information including the characters as the region of interest information, wherein the display control device controls to display an image representing the region of interest based on the region of interest information detected by the region of interest detection device while superimposing the same on the image, the region of interest addition device adds the region of interest information detected by the region of interest detection device. With this, the character is also included in the region of interest. The character is not limited to a person, but various forms such as an animal, a robot are conceivable.

In the digital comic editor according to yet another aspect of the invention, the character may be a face and the character detection device may be face detection device. With this, a person may be used as a character.

In the digital comic editor according to yet another aspect of the invention, the region of interest information may be a piece of coordinate data representing each vertex on an outer periphery edge of the polygonal shape in the region of interest, a piece of vector data representing the outer periphery edge of the region of interest or a piece of mask data representing the region.

In the digital comic editor according to yet another aspect of the invention, the display control device controls to display an image in which the region of interest is translucently covered over or an image in which the outer periphery edge of the region of interest is drawn based on the region of interest information. With this, the region of interest is distinguished from other regions.

The digital comic editor according to yet another aspect of the invention further includes an image acquisition device configured to acquire an image file having a high resolution image of the entire page; a region of interest extraction device configured to analyze the image of the entire page acquired by the image acquisition device and automatically extracts the regions of interest in the image; information file creation device configured to create an information file having described therein the region of interest information representing the region of interest extracted by the region of interest extraction device; and a master data creation device configured to create a piece of master data of the digital comic, the master data including: an image file acquired by the image acquisition device for each page of the comic; and an information file corresponding to each page or all pages of the comic, which is created by the information file creation device, wherein the data acquisition device acquires a piece of master data created by the master data creation device.

To input the information or the like of every information of the interest regions, an enormous workload is required. By automatically creating the master data, the master data can be created efficiently. When the master data is created automatically, some errors may exist in the region of interest information described in the information file. According to the invention, erroneous region of interest information can be easily modified.

A digital comic editing method according to yet another aspect of the invention includes a data acquisition step acquiring a piece of master data of a digital comic, the master data including: an image file corresponding to each page of the comic, the image file having a high resolution image of the entire page, and an information file corresponding to each page or all pages of the comic, the information file having described therein a piece of text region information representing text regions of the comic; a display control step controlling a display device to display an image thereon based on the image file in the master data acquired in the data acquisition step and to display an image representing a speech bubble region based on the speech bubble region information included in the information file in the master data while superimposing the same on the image based on the image file; an indication step indicating a position on the image displayed on the display device; a speech bubble region addition step adding a new piece of speech bubble region information to a position indicated in the indication step; a speech bubble region deletion step deleting the speech bubble region information from the position indicated in the indication step; and an editing step updating the speech bubble region information included in the information file based on the speech bubble region information added in the speech bubble region addition step and the speech bubble region information deleted in the speech bubble region deletion step.

A digital comic editing method according to yet another aspect of the invention includes a data acquisition step acquiring a piece of master data of a digital comic, the master data including: an image file corresponding to each page of the comic, the image file having a high resolution image of the entire page, and an information file corresponding to each page or all pages of the comic, the information file having described therein a piece of region of interest information representing regions of interest of the comic; a display control step controlling a display device to display an image thereon based on the image file in the master data acquired in the data acquisition step and to display an image representing a text region based on the text region information included in the information file in the master data while superimposing the same on the image based on the image file; an indication step indicating a position on the image displayed on the display device; a text region addition step adding a new piece of text region information to a position indicated in the indication step; a text region deletion step deleting the text region information from the position indicated in the indication step; and an editing step updating the text region information included in the information file based on the text region information added in the text region addition step and the text region information deleted in the text region deletion step.

A digital comic editing method according to yet another aspect of the invention includes a data acquisition step acquiring a piece of master data of a digital comic, the master data including: an image file of each page of the comic having high resolution image of the entire page, and an information file having described therein a region of interest information representing regions of interest of the comic; a display control step controlling a display device, to display an image thereon based on the image file in the master data acquired in the data acquisition step and to display an image representing a region of interest based on the region of interest information included in the information file in the master data while superimposing the same on the image based on the image file; an indication step indicating a position on the image displayed on the display device; a region of interest addition step that adds a new piece of region of interest information to a position indicated in the indication step; a region of interest deletion step deleting the region of interest information from the position indicated in the indication step; an editing step updating a piece of region of interest information included in the information file based on the region of interest information added in the region of interest addition step and the region of interest information deleted in the region of interest deletion step.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a digital comic editing program according to yet another aspect of the invention is a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a digital comic editing program causing a computer to execute: a data acquisition step to acquire a piece of master data of a digital comic, the master data including: an image file corresponding to each page of the comic, the image file having a high resolution image of the entire page, and an information file corresponding to each page or all pages of the comic, the information file having described therein a piece of speech bubble information including a piece of speech bubble region information representing regions of speech bubbles for containing dialogs of characters in the image; a display control step to control display device to display an image thereon based on the image file in the master data acquired by the data acquisition step and to display an image representing a speech bubble region based on the speech bubble region information included in the information file in the master data while superimposing the same on the image based on the image file; an indication step to indicate a position on the image displayed on the display device; a speech bubble region addition step to add a new piece of speech bubble region information to a position indicated by the indication step; a speech bubble region deletion step to delete the speech bubble region information from the position indicated by the indication step; and an editing step to update the speech bubble region information included in the information file based on the speech bubble region information added by the speech bubble region addition step and the speech bubble region information deleted by the speech bubble region deletion step.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a digital comic editing program according to yet another aspect of the invention is a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a digital comic editing program causing a computer to achieve: a data acquisition step to acquire a piece of master data of a digital comic, the master data including: an image file corresponding to each page of the comic, the image file having a high resolution image of the entire page, and an information file corresponding to each page or all pages of the comic, the information file having described therein a piece of text region information representing a text region of the comic; a display control step to control display device to display an image thereon based on the image file in the master data acquired by the data acquisition step and to display an image representing a text region based on the text region information included in the information file in the master data while superimposing the same on the image based on the image file; an indication step to indicate a position on the image displayed on the display device; a text region addition step to add a new piece of text region information to a position indicated by the indication step; a text region deletion step to delete the text region information from the position indicated by the indication step; and an editing step to update the text region information included in the information file based on the text region information added by the text region addition step and the text region information deleted by the text region deletion step.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a digital comic editing program according to yet another aspect of the invention is a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a digital comic editing program causing a computer to achieve: a data acquisition step to acquire a piece of master data of a digital comic, the master data including: an image file corresponding to each page of the comic, the image file having a high resolution image of the entire page, and an information file corresponding to each page or all pages of the comic, the information file having described therein a piece of region of interest information representing a region of interest of the comic; a display control step to control display device to display an image thereon based on the image file in the master data acquired by the data acquisition step and to display an image representing a region of interest based on the region of interest information included in the information file in the master data while superimposing the same on the image based on the image file; an indication step to indicate a position on the image displayed on the display device; a region of interest addition step to add a new piece of region of interest information to a position indicated by the indication step; a region of interest deletion step to delete the region of interest information from the position indicated by the indication step; and an editing step to update a piece of region of interest information included in the information file based on the region of interest information added by the region of interest addition step and the region of interest information deleted by the region of interest deletion step.

According to the invention, when digitizing a comic content, an automatic detection result of frames can be checked, and based on the check result, the automatic detection result of frames can be easily edited.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a configuration of a content delivery system according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of master data creation;

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a content image;

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a monitor display;

FIG. 5 illustrates a result of frames which are automatically detected from a content image;

FIG. 6 illustrates a modification result of the frame detection result shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 illustrates a result of frames which are automatically detected from the content image;

FIG. 8 illustrates a modification result of the frame detection result shown in FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 illustrates a modification of a frame boundary line;

FIG. 10 illustrates a result of speech bubbles which are automatically extracted from the content image;

FIG. 11 illustrates a modification of the speech bubble extraction result shown in FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 illustrates a result of the speech bubbles which are automatically extracted from the content image;

FIG. 13 illustrates a modification of the speech bubble extraction result shown in FIG. 12;

FIG. 14 illustrates a result of speech bubbles which are automatically extracted from the content image;

FIG. 15 illustrates an extraction of a speech bubble;

FIG. 16 illustrates an extraction of the speech bubble;

FIG. 17 illustrates an extraction of the speech bubble;

FIG. 18 illustrates an extraction of the speech bubble;

FIG. 19 illustrates an extraction of the speech bubble;

FIG. 20 illustrates a result of texts which are automatically extracted from the content image;

FIG. 21 illustrates a modification of the text extraction result shown in FIG. 20;

FIG. 22 illustrates a result of regions of interest which are automatically extracted from the content image;

FIG. 23 illustrates a modification of the region of an interest extraction result shown in FIG. 20;

FIG. 24 illustrates pairing of the speech bubbles and the regions of interest;

FIG. 25 illustrates pairing of the speech bubbles and the regions of interest;

FIG. 26 is a frame format of a structure of an information file;

FIG. 27 is an example of a monitor screen when editing master data;

FIG. 28 is an example of the monitor screen when editing master data;

FIG. 29 is an example of the monitor screen when editing master data; and

FIG. 30 is an example of a preview screen.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments of a digital comic editor, a method and a non-transitory computer-readable medium according to the invention will be described below referring to the appended drawings.

[Configuration of a Content Delivery System]

FIG. 1 illustrates a configuration of a content delivery system according to a preferred embodiment of the invention. The system includes a server 1 and a digital book viewer 2. The server 1 is configured of a computer (information processor) including a processor (CPU), a storage, I/O circuits and the like.

The digital book viewer 2 is an information terminal including a display device capable of reproducing images, a communication device, a processor (CPU), a storage, I/O circuits, an operation device, a sound reproduction device capable of reproducing sounds and the like. For example, the digital book viewer 2 is constituted of a smartphone or a tablet computer. Unspecified number of digital book viewers 2 may access to the server 1.

In particular, the server 1 includes an authoring section 10, a database (DB) 11, an operation section 12, an input/output section 13, a scanner 14, and a monitor 15.

The authoring section 10 includes an information processor such as CPU and a storage storing a digital comic editing program or the like to perform various information processing in accordance with the digital comic editing program. The DB 11 is constituted of a storage medium such as a hard disk and a memory and the like. The operation section 12 includes an operation device such as a keyboard, a mouse, a touch-pad and the like. The monitor 15 is a display device constituted of a display device such as an LCD.

The authoring section 10 analyzes a content image to create several pieces of collateral information such as page information, frame information, coordinates of speech bubble, ROI information and the like, and creates a piece of master data for digital book, in which these pieces of data are associated with each other. Also, the authoring section 10 creates a piece of data optimized for each digital book viewer 2 from the master data. Detailed description of the authoring section 10 will be given later.

The DB 11 accumulates content files for storing the content image associated with a page number and collateral information thereof in a predetermined file format. The content images are original contents which are the data digitalized using the scanner 14 or the like. The original contents include comics, newspapers, articles of magazines, office documents (presentation documents, etc), textbooks, reference books, which are set on the page basis. Also, each set of the content images is associated with its own page number.

The content images and the collateral information thereof are stored in an EPUB format. The content images may include their collateral information. The collateral information may include author of content, title, total number of pages, volume number, episode number, a holder of the right of publication (publisher) and the like.

The content image includes outline images and detailed images (high resolution data), and each image is prepared on the basis of page, frame or anchor point.

The collateral information collateral to the content image includes information input from the operation section 12, information of result of analysis made by the authoring section 10, or information input through the input/output section 13.

The digital book viewer 2 is constituted of a portable information terminal such as a smartphone or a tablet computer and includes a display device capable of reproducing images, a communication device, an operation detection device, a sound reproduction device, an information processor and the like.

In particular, the digital book viewer 2 includes a database (DB) 21, a display section 24, a content display control section 25, a sound reproduction section 26, an operation section 27, a speaker 28, and an input/output section 29.

The display section 24 is a display device including a display device such as an LCD. The operation section 27 is an operation detection device including a touch panel or the like. The operation section 27 is preferably laminated on the display section 24, and is capable of detecting various operations on the display section 24 such as single tap, double tap, swipe, long press or the like.

The sound reproduction section 26 is a circuit that converts sound-related information (information relevant to read sound and/or information relevant to accompanying sound) stored in the content file into sounds to outputs the same from the speaker 28.

The input/output section 29 is a device configured to inputs a content file output from the input/output section 13 of the server 1. Typically, the input/output section 13 and the input/output section 29 is a communication device, but it may be a write/read device for a computer readable storage medium.

The DB 21 stores information same as the DB 11. That is, when the digital book viewer 2 makes a request to the server 1 to transmit a digital book, the server 1 exports a content file from the DB 11 to the DB 21 via the input/output section 29, and the content file is stored in the DB 21. However, the information in the DB 11 and the information in the DB 21 may not be completely identical to each other. The DB 11 is a library that stores various kinds of content images, for example, content images of each volume of comics of different authors in order to meet the requests from various kinds of users. The DB 21 stores at least content files relevant to the contents that a user of the digital book viewer 2 desires to browse.

The content display control section 25 controls the display of contents on the display section 24.

[Operation of the Content Delivery System]

(A) Creation Processing of Master Data

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating the processing flow in which the authoring section 10 creates a piece of master data.

The authoring section 10 acquires a content image (step S1). The acquired image is stored in the DB 11. The server 1 acquires images of the entire page corresponding to the respective pages of the comic (high resolution images of 3000×5000 pixels or 1500×2000 pixels) via a storage media or a network; or acquires images by reading the comic by the scanner 14. The authoring section 10 acquires content images acquired by the server 1 in the above manner. When the content image is already stored in the DB 11, the authoring section 10 may acquire the content image stored in the DB 11.

In step S1, the authoring section 10 causes the monitor 15 to display the content image acquired in step S1 on a registration screen which is a screen for registering various kinds of information. When the user inputs various kinds of information through the operation section 12 in accordance with the instruction on the registration screen, the authoring section 10 acquires and registers the information in the DB 11 while associating the content image (step S2). The authoring section 10 creates an information file and stores the various kinds of information in the information file. The authoring section 10 makes a connection between the content image and the information file with each other to create a piece of master data. The master data is temporarily stored in the DB 11. As for the format of the information file, for example, an XML file is available.

The various kinds of information (page information) includes several pieces of information relevant to the content (content unique title ID, title name, author, publisher (holder of the right of publication), publication year, language and the like), a piece of information relevant to the page, page name, a piece of information of page ID. The information relevant to the page means a piece of information indicating whether the content image is a single page or a two-page spread, right-open/left-open, size of original content.

When a content image shown in FIG. 3 is acquired in step S1, the authoring section 10 displays a registration screen shown in FIG. 4 on the monitor 15. On the registration screen, a content image G is displayed at the right hand; and a list L of the acquired content images is displayed at the left hand. “Index” is a file ID which is automatically given to the acquired content image. In the list L, plural pieces of information of the acquired content images are displayed in the order of file IDs. Before registration, “0” is displayed in the columns other than “Index”.

When the user makes an input operation on any column of “filename”, “speaking”, “Language” and “Translation” through the operation section 12, the authoring section 10 displays the input character information in the list L and stores the same in the DB 11. “filename” means a file name; “speaking” indicates existence of sound information; “Language” indicates a language of the character information included in the content image; “Translation” indicates existence of translation into other languages of the character information included in the content image. “koma” indicates number of the frames, at this point, “0” is displayed (automatically input later).

The authoring section 10 automatically analyzes the content image (step S3). The automatic analysis is executed when the user checks (select) a check box of “Auto Koma” and/or “Auto Speech Balloon” and presses OK button A through the operation section 12 in the registration screen shown in FIG. 4. In this embodiment, a description is made assuming that “Auto Koma” and “Auto Speech Balloon” are selected.

When “Auto Koma” is selected, the authoring section 10 automatically detects frames based on information on the lines included in the content image. The information on the lines included in the content image is acquired by, for example, by recognizing a portion in which a region having a stronger contrast in the content image appears linearly as a line.

When “Auto Speech Balloon” is selected, the authoring section 10 extracts a text from the content image and determines a closed region enclosing the periphery of the text as a speech bubble region; thereby a speech bubble included in the content image is extracted. An optical character reader (OCR) included in the authoring section 10 extracts the text. The text read by the OCR is sorted based on the orientation of the characters. For example, when the words run vertically, the words are sorted from the top to the end of the line and from a line at the right toward the line at the left.

The frame detection and the speech bubble extraction may be performed based on machine learning. For example, detection accuracy of the frame and outer edge of the speech bubble, a determination threshold of adequateness of the frame region other than rectangle and the speech bubble may be empirically set based on a learning sample comic.

The information file stores a piece of frame information on the frame, a piece of speech bubble information on the speech bubble, and a piece of text information on the text.

The frame information includes a piece of frame region information. The frame region information is a piece of information indicating a frame region which includes the number of the frames included in the page, coordinates of vertexes of each frame and a shape of each frame. The frame region information may be a piece of vector data indicating a frame boundary line or a piece of mask data indicating a frame region. The frame information further includes a piece of frame order information or the like relevant to the frame order (reproduction order) of each frame. An appropriate pattern of frame order is selected from some transition patterns of frame order such as, for example, from top right to bottom left, or from top left to bottom right of the page, and a shift direction (horizontal direction or vertical direction) or the like based on a piece of information on right-open/left-open page, a piece of information on content representing a language, a frame allocation detected from the frame region information and the like. Thus, frame order is automatically determined in accordance with the selected transition pattern.

The speech bubble information includes a piece of speech bubble region information. The speech bubble region information is a piece of information indicating regions where speech bubbles exist within a page unit (or frame unit), which includes a piece of position information (for example, coordinates) of plural points corresponding to a speech bubble shape on a line, a shape of the speech bubble (for example, vector information), position and direction of a start point of a speech bubble (vertex of speech bubble), and a size of the speech bubble. The speech bubble region information may be a piece of bitmap information (mask data) indicating a full region (range) of the speech bubble. The speech bubble region information may be represented by a specific position (center position) of the speech bubble and the size of the speech bubble. The speech bubble information further includes, a piece of information on a text included in the speech bubble, an attribute of the line of the speech bubble (dotted line, solid line etc), an ID information of a speaker of the speech bubble, and a frame to which the speech bubble belongs.

The text information includes a piece of text region information and a piece of information on the content of the text. The text region information includes a piece of position information of plural points corresponding to the text region on the line (for example, coordinates), a piece of vector information indicating outer periphery edge of the text region. The text region information may be a piece of bitmap information (mask data) indicating a text region (range). The information on the content of the text includes a piece of text (sentence) character attribute information specified by the OCR, number of lines, line spacing, character spacing, display switching method, language, vertical writing/horizontal writing, differentiation of reading direction and the like. The character attribute information includes a character size (the number of points etc) and character classification (font, highlighted character etc). The text information includes a dialog of a speaker in the speech bubble. The text information also includes a translation sentence and the language of various languages (translation sentences of 2 or more languages are available) corresponding to original dialog disposed in the speech bubble.

The authoring section 10 stores a piece of information in which the text and the speech bubble are associated with each other and a piece of information in which the speech bubble or text and the frame are associated with each other in an information file. Since the text is extracted during the extraction of the speech bubble, the text is associated with the speech bubble from which the text is extracted. By comparing the coordinates included in the speech bubble information with the coordinates included in the frame information, it is determined in which frame the speech bubble included. Thus, the speech bubble is associated with a frame in which the speech bubble is included. When no closed region is found around a text, it is a case when only the characters are included in the frame. Thus, the text is associated with a frame in which the text is included.

The authoring section 10 updates the master data by storing the frame information, the speech bubble information and the text information in the information file. When all of the processing of the step is made manually, enormous workload is required. By automatically performing the processing as described above, the master data is created efficiently.

The authoring section 10 displays the original content image and the detection result of the frame of the content image which is automatically analyzed in step S3 on the monitor 15 next to each other, receives a correction input of the frame detection result through the operation section 12, and performs frame setting based on the result (step S4).

The processing in step S4 is described in detail. FIG. 5 illustrates a frame detection result by the automatic analysis of a content image (file ID: 1, file name: yakisoba_003) shown in FIG. 3. Actually, the content image shown in FIG. 3 and the frame detection result shown in FIG. 5 are displayed on the monitor 15 next to each other. However, only the frame detection result shown in FIG. 5 may be displayed. The authoring section 10 displays the frame detection result based on the information file. The frame detection result is displayed with a thick dotted line with boundary line of each frame (hereinafter, referred to as frame boundary line) being overlapped with the contrast image; and in the center of each frame, a frame order indicating the reading order of the frame is displayed. With this, the user can check the present frame region information (frame allocation) and frame order.

When a predetermined frame is selected by the user, the authoring section 10 changes the color of the frame boundary of the frame to a color different from the color of other frame boundary line (for example, selected frame is red line; unselected frame is blue line), and starts to receive a correction input to a selected frame. With this, the user can check the frame to be edited.

(1) Increasing Frames

In a state a frame is selected, when a certain position in the frame is selected, the authoring section 10 adds a frame boundary line adjacent to the selected position, and accompanying this, updates the frame order. In step S3, although a line is extracted and recognized, if the line cannot be recognized as a frame boundary line, an erroneous recognition is caused. When a certain position in the frame is selected, the authoring section 10 extracts a line adjacent to the position at which a selection instruction is input which is recognized as a line, but is not recognized as a frame boundary line, a new frame boundary line is added by recognizing the line as a frame boundary line.

In the frame detection result shown in FIG. 5, in the frame order 2 at the center of the content image, although actually two frames exist, they are recognizes as a single frame. Therefore, when the user selects a point adjacent to lines A at the center of the frames through the operation section 12, the authoring section 10 divides the frame at the center of the content image into a frame of frame order 2 and a frame of frame order 3 as shown in FIG. 6.

Accompanying the increase of the frames, the authoring section 10 modifies the frame order. In this case, the frame order 3 of the frame in FIG. 5 is changed to 4, and the frame order 4 in FIG. 5 is changed to 5.

(2) Deleting Frame

In an example shown in FIG. 7, as a result of false recognition that a trunk of a tree B is a line dividing the frame, although the upper portion of the content image is divided into two, actually, the upper frame of the content image is a single frame. An image shown in FIG. 7 is displayed on the monitor 15, in a state that the frame with frame order 1 or the frame with frame order 2 is selected, when the user selects the frame boundary line between the frame with frame order 1 and the frame with frame order 2 through the operation section 12, the authoring section 10 deletes the frame boundary line between the frame with frame order 1 and the frame with frame order 2 in FIG. 7, and modifies the upper frames of the content image into a single frame with frame order 1 as shown in FIG. 8.

Accompanying the deletion of the frame, the authoring section 10 modifies the frame order. In this case, the frame order 3 in FIG. 7 is changed to 2; the frame order 4 is changed to 3; and the frame order 6 is changed to 4.

When adding or deleting the frame boundary line, the added frame boundary line and the frame boundary line to be deleted may be displayed to distinguishable from other frame boundary lines. With this, the user can recognize which frame boundary line is added and which frame boundary line is deleted.

(3) Modification of Frame Boundary Line

When selected frame is double-clicked, the authoring section 10 receives correction input of the number of vertexes and coordinates. With this, shape and size of frame can be modified.

When the selected frame is double-clicked, a modification screen of the frame boundary line is displayed as shown in FIG. 9. A frame is represented with a polygonal shape having three or more vertexes, and a frame boundary line is represented with a line connecting three or more vertexes. In FIG. 9, since the frame has a square shape, total eight vertexes of the vertexes of the square shape and at rough center of the edges are displayed.

When the user inputs an instruction by double-clicking at a desired position on the frame boundary line through the operation section 12, a vertex is added to the position. Also, when the user inputs an instruction by double-clicking on a desired vertex through the operation section 12, the vertex is deleted.

When the user drags a desired vertex through the operation section 12, the vertex is shifted as shown in FIG. 9, the shape of the frame boundary line is modified. By repeating this operation, the shape and the size of the frame boundary line can be changed.

(4) Modification of Frame Order

When the user double-clicks on a number indicating the frame order through the operation section 12, the authoring section 10 receives the modification of the frame order, and modifies the frame order with the number input through the operation section 12. With this, when the automatically analyzed frame order is not correct, the frame order is modified.

When frame setting is made, the authoring section 10 modifies the frame information of the information file accordingly. When an instruction to display the registration screen is made after frame setting, the authoring section 10, displays the input number of the frame in a column of “koma” of the list L on the monitor 15. When the result shown in FIG. 6 is set, 5 is input in the “koma” with file ID of 1 as shown in FIG. 4.

When frame setting is made (in step S4), the authoring section 10 displays the original content image and the extraction result of the speech bubble of the content image which is automatically analyzed in step S3 on the monitor 15 next to each other, receives the correction input of the extraction result of the speech bubble through the operation section 12 and sets the speech bubble based on the result (step S5).

The processing in step S5 is described in detail. FIG. 10 is an extraction result of speech bubbles in the content image (file ID: 1, file name: yakisoba_003) shown in FIG. 3 obtained by automatic analysis. Actually, the content image shown in FIG. 3 and the speech bubble extraction result shown in FIG. 9 are displayed on the monitor 15 next to each other. However, only the speech bubble extraction result shown in FIG. 9 may be displayed. The authoring section 10 displays the speech bubble extraction result based on the information file. The authoring section 10 displays a covered over image of the extracted speech bubble on the monitor 15 so that the extracted speech bubble can be distinguished from other region. In FIG. 9, as the image indicating the speech bubble regions, an image in which the extracted speech bubbles are covered over by hatching is shown. An image in which the outer periphery edges of the speech bubbles are thickly drawn may be displayed as an image indicating the speech bubble regions.

(1) Addition of Speech Bubble

In the extraction result shown in FIG. 10, since a part of the boundary line of a speech bubble X at the bottom left is broken, it is not detected automatically. The user connects the portion where boundary line is broken through the operation section 12 to form a closed region. After that, when the user selects the closed region through the operation section 12 and indicates the recognition, the authoring section 10 automatically recognizes the selected closed region as a speech bubble. As a result, the speech bubble X is also covered over as shown in FIG. 11, and is set as a speech bubble same as the other speech bubbles.

(2) Deleting Speech Bubble

Since a balloon Y is a closed region, in the extraction result shown in FIG. 12, although the balloon Y is not a speech bubble, it is extracted as a speech bubble. This is caused from a false recognition of the characters in the balloon Y as a text. When the user selects the balloon Y through the operation section 12, the authoring section 10 deletes the automatically selected closed region (in this case, inside of the balloon Y) from the speech bubble. As a result, hatching is deleted from the balloon Y as shown in FIG. 13.

(3) Modifying Speech Bubble Region when Speech Bubble is not Detected Clearly

In an extraction result shown in FIG. 14, a part of a speech bubble Z at the top right is not extracted. This is caused when a character in the speech bubble is too close to the boundary line or in contact therewith as indicated with a chain line in FIG. 15; or when the characters in a speech bubble are too close to each other or in contact with each other as indicated with a two-dot chain line shown in FIG. 15.

FIG. 16 is an enlarged view of the extraction result of the speech bubble Z shown in FIG. 14; FIG. 17 illustrates the extraction result shown in FIG. 16 from which characters are deleted. As shown in FIG. 17, in the speech bubble Z, a part of the boundary line is in contact with the character (FIG. 17-a); a part of the characters runs off the speech bubble (FIG. 17-b). Therefore, when the user selects closed region b in the speech bubble through the operation section 12, the authoring section 10 automatically determines the closed region b as a speech bubble (refer to FIG. 17) as shown in FIG. 18. Also, when the user adds a boundary line c of the speech bubble through the operation section 12 as shown in FIG. 18, the authoring section 10 automatically determines the closed region generated by the boundary line c (refer to FIG. 18) as a speech bubble as shown in FIG. 19. As a result, the speech bubble, which was not detected clearly, is extracted correctly as shown in FIG. 19.

When correction input of the extraction result of the speech bubble is made as described above, the authoring section 10 modifies the speech bubble information in the information file accordingly.

After completing the speech bubble setting (step S5), the authoring section 10 displays the original content image and the text recognition result of the content image which is automatically analyzed in step S3 on the monitor 15 next to each other, and receives correction input of the recognition result of the text made through the operation section 12 and performs the text setting based on the result (step S6).

The processing in step S6 is described in detail. FIG. 20 illustrates a text recognition result obtained by automatic analysis of a content image (file ID: 1, file name: yakisoba_003) shown in FIG. 3. Actually, the content image shown in FIG. 3 and the recognition result shown in FIG. 20 are displayed on the monitor 15 next to each other. However, only the text recognition result shown in FIG. 20 may be displayed. The authoring section 10 displays the extraction result of the text based on the information file. The authoring section 10 displays an image in which the outer periphery edge of the text region in a thick line on the monitor 15 thereby the text region and other regions can be recognized. In FIG. 20, an image in which the outer periphery edge of the text region is drawn with a thick line is shown as the image indicating the text region. However, an image indicating text region, in which the text region is translucently covered over may be displayed. By covering over translucently, the user can recognize the text.

(1) Adding Text

In FIG. 20, a text “What?” of hand written characters is not recognized. When the user encloses “What?” through the operation section 12 to instruct to recognize the same, the authoring section 10 recognizes the closed region enclosing “What?” as a text region. The authoring section 10 may be configured so as, when the user indicates on or adjacent to a character of “What?” through the operation section 12, to recognize the position which is indicated thereon or adjacent thereto through the operation section 12, here, the closed region enclosing “What?” as a text region. As a result, “What?” is also set as a text region as shown in FIG. 21, and thus, the text region information is acquired.

After the text region is set, the character data is specified by the optical character reader of the authoring section 10. When the character data is not specified, the authoring section 10 prompts the user to input, and the user inputs the characters through the operation section 12. With this, the information on the content of the text is acquired.

When correction input of the text extraction result has been made as described above, the authoring section 10 modifies the text information in the information file.

(2) Deleting Text

When a text region is erroneously recognized, the user selects a desired position on the erroneous text region through the operation section 12 and gives an instruction to perform recognition. Then, the authoring section 10 automatically deletes the text region selected from the information file. The authoring section 10 also deletes a piece of information on the text content of the deleted text region from the information file.

When the text setting (step S6) is completed, the authoring section 10 automatically extracts a region of interest (hereinafter, referred to as ROI) from the original content image (step S7). ROI means an item to be always displayed on the digital book viewer 2, which is a face (or a region equivalent to face) of a character in the original comic of the content image. The character includes not only a person but also an animal, a non-living material such as a telephone, a PC, electronic equipment and a robot.

The authoring section 10 includes a known image analysis technology, for example, a face detection device which automatically detects a face of a character by using a face detection technique, and the face detection device detects the face of the character from the content image. The authoring section 10 sets a polygonal shape region enclosing the detected face as a region of interest. The position, size, type of content elements such as animal, building, vehicle and other objects may be automatically detected based on the feature amount of information on the images by using known image analysis technology.

The authoring section 10 stores a piece of region of interest information which is a piece of information on the region of interest (ROI) in the information file. The region of interest information may be a piece of vector data representing coordinates of each vertex of the ROI, a shape of the ROI or an outer periphery edge of the ROI. The region of interest information further includes a piece of information on the characters included in the ROI (for example, automatically given character ID). Also, the region of interest information may include priority order, important degree to display, ID information (name etc) of the character, character's attributes (sex, age etc) and the like.

When the automatic extraction (step S7) of the ROI has completed, the authoring section 10 receives correction input of the ROI extraction result and performs ROI setting based on the result (step S8).

The processing in step S8 is described in detail. FIG. 22 shows a ROI extraction result made through automatic analysis of the content image shown in FIG. 3 (file ID: 1, file name: yakisoba_003). Actually, the content image shown in FIG. 3 and the recognition result shown in FIG. 22 are displayed next to each other on the monitor 15. However, only the ROI extraction result shown in FIG. 22 may be displayed. The authoring section 10 displays the ROI extraction result based on the information file. The authoring section 10 displays the image with the outer periphery edge of the ROI thickly drawn on the monitor 15, to facilitate recognition of the ROI and other regions. In FIG. 22, the image in which the outer periphery edge of the ROI is thickly drawn is shown as an image representing the ROI. The translucently covered over ROI may be displayed as the image representing the ROI region. By translucently covering over, the user can recognize the characters.

(1) Adding ROI

In FIG. 22, the characters include a man M and a woman F, a face C facing leftward of man M turning his head to a side is not recognized. When the user selects a desired position on the face C facing leftward of the man M turning his head to a side through the operation section 12 and gives an instruction to perform recognition, the authoring section 10 recognizes a closed region including the indicated position as the ROI. Also, the authoring section 10 modifies the region of interest information in the information file accordingly. As a result, an image representing the ROI is displayed on the face C facing leftward of the man M as shown in FIG. 23.

(2) Deleting ROI

When the ROI is erroneously extracted, the user selects a desired point on an incorrect ROI through the operation section 12 and gives an instruction to recognize. The authoring section 10 automatically deletes the region of interest information selected from the information file. With this, the image representing erroneous ROI is deleted from the monitor 15.

When the ROI setting (step S8) is completed, the authoring section 10 performs pairing to make a connection between the ROIs and the speech bubbles (step S9). The pairing makes a connection between a dialog in a speech bubble (speech bubble and text) and its generation source (ROI).

FIG. 24 illustrates a result that speech bubbles, texts and ROIs are set in steps S5-S7. In FIG. 24, speech bubbles i-xii are included as the speech bubble; a woman F (F1-F3) and a man M (M1-M4) are included as the ROI. Although the woman F1-F3 is all the identical person (woman F), the expression of woman F1-F3 is employed for the sake of description. Likewise, although the man M1-M4 is all the identical person (man M), the expression of man M1-M4 is employed for the sake of description.

A method to perform the pairing manually is described. The authoring section 10 displays a content image on the monitor 15 based on the information file in a state the speech bubbles and ROIs, which are set in steps S5 and S7, are selectable. When the user selects a predetermined speech bubble and an ROI one each through the operation section 12, the authoring section 10 recognizes the speech bubble and the ROI and sets the same as a pair. The speech bubble i is a speech of the woman F1. Therefore, when the speech bubble i and the woman F1 are selected through the operation section 12, the authoring section 10 automatically recognizes the speech bubble i and the woman F1 as a pair and sets the speech bubble i and the woman F1 as a pair 1. Likewise, when the speech bubble ii and the man M1 are selected through the operation section 12, the authoring section 10 automatically recognizes the speech bubble ii and the man M1 as a pair and sets the speech bubble ii and the man M1 as pair 2. After completing the pairing on every speech bubble, the authoring section 10 stores the pairing result in the information file.

Next, a description is made on the method that the authoring section 10 automatically performs the pairing first, and subsequently modification is made manually. The authoring section 10 automatically performs pairing on ROI and speech bubble neighboring each other based on the information file. In the case shown in FIG. 24, the speech bubble i and the woman F1 are set as pair 1; the speech bubble ii and the man M1 are set as pair 2; the speech bubble iii and the man M3 are set as pair 3; the speech bubble iv and the man M2 are set as pair 4; the speech bubble v and the woman F2 are set as pair 5; the speech bubble vi and the woman F2 are set as pair 6; the speech bubble vii and the man M3 are set as pair 7; the speech bubble viii and the man M3 are set as pair 8; the speech bubble ix and the man M3 are set as pair 9; the speech bubble x and the man M4 are set as pair 10; the speech bubble xi and the woman F3 are set as pair 11; and the speech bubble xii and the woman F3 are set as pair 12.

The authoring section 10 stores the pairing result in the information file, and displays the content image on the monitor 15 in a state in which the pairing result is recognizable based on the information file. For example, an image in which a pair is enclosed by a dotted line is displayed being superimposed on a content image.

When the user selects an image in which a predetermined pair is enclosed with a dotted line through the operation section 12, the authoring section 10 receives the modification of the pair. In the example shown in FIG. 24, the speech bubble xi should not be paired with the woman F3 but with the man M 4. Therefore, the pair 11 should be modified. When the user double-clicks the pair 11 through the operation section 12, the pair 11 gets ready to be edited. When the speech bubble xi and the man M 4 are selected, the authoring section 10 reset the speech bubble xi and the man M 4 as the pair 11, and modifies the information file.

The authoring section 10 displays the content image in a state the pairing result is recognizable on the monitor 15 based on the modified information file. As a result, the modification result of the pair 11 can be checked on the monitor 15 as shown in FIG. 25.

The pairing may be allotted with a number. The authoring section 10 may allot numbers from the pairing of the speech bubble located at the top right, or may allot numbers based on the input through the operation section 12. The numbers may represent the display order of the speech bubble.

Finally, the authoring section 10 stores a master data including the information file updated in steps S4-S9 and the content image in the DB11 (step S10).

FIG. 26 illustrates a structure of the master data. In this embodiment, since each comic has an information file, the information file includes plural pieces of page information. The respective pages have a piece of page information; a piece of frame information is made connected with the page information; and the speech bubble information (text information) and the region of interest information are made connected with the frame information. The information file may be created not for each comic but for each page.

By creating the master data, it is made possible to edit the content in accordance with the digital book viewer, automatic translation of the text, translation editing and sharing and display processing appropriate for digital book viewer, and delivery of the digital book is facilitated.

In this embodiment, the authoring section 10 acquires a content image and creates a master data which stores the frame information, the speech bubble information, the text information and the like. However, the authoring section 10 may acquire a master data (equivalent to the master data created in step S2 shown in FIG. 2) which has an information file storing various kinds of information, and then perform the processing in steps S3-S10 and may store a final master data in the DB. Also, the authoring section 10 may acquire a master data (equivalent to the master data created in step S3 shown in FIG. 2) which has an information file in which frames, speech bubbles and texts are automatically extracted, and the frame information, the speech bubble information and the text information are stored, and may store a final master data in the DB after performing the processing in steps S4-S10.

(B) Master Data Edition Processing

FIG. 27 illustrates a display screen for performing editing for a digital book viewer. The authoring section 10 displays a content image on the monitor 15. The authoring section 10 displays the frame boundary line of each frame with a thick line based on the information file. Roughly in the center of each frame, a frame order representing reading order of the frame is displayed. The display of the frame order is not limited to the above, but the frame order may be displayed at a corner of the frame.

The authoring section 10 acquires a screen size of the digital book viewer 2 from the DB 11 or the like, and displays a border F representing the screen size of the digital book viewer 2 superimposing the same on the content image based on the information on the screen size of the digital book viewer 2 and the information of the information file. When the user input an instruction to shift the border F vertically/horizontally through the operation section 12, the authoring section 10 shifts the border F vertically/horizontally responding to the instruction from the operation section 12.

The authoring section 10 determines the minimum display times; that is, scroll times necessary for displaying entire of the frame based on the information on the screen size of the digital book viewer 2 and the information of the information file and displays the information (marker) superimposing the same on the content image. In this embodiment, since the marker is displayed roughly in the center of each frame, in the FIG. 27, the frame order is displayed being superimposed on the marker.

In FIG. 27, scroll times are represented with a rectangular marker. When the scroll time is once, in FIG. 27, the frame order is displayed with a marker of square shape of a in each edge length like frames 3 and 4. When the scroll times are two or more, a rectangular marker of a of integer times in an edge length is displayed. When the scroll in a vertical direction is n times; and the scroll in the horizontal direction is m times, a rectangular marker of na×ma in vertical and horizontal length is displayed. In frames with frame order 1, 2, 6 and 7 in FIG. 27, since horizontal scroll is two times and vertical scroll is once, a rectangular marker of 2 a in horizontal direction and a in vertical direction is displayed. By displaying the marker as described above, the times and direction of the scroll can be easily understood at a glance of the marker without interposing the border F on each frame.

The user shifts the frame boundary line as described above while monitoring the image displayed on the monitor 15. When the user makes double click or the like on the frame boundary line through the operation section 12, the authoring section 10 displays vertexes on the frame boundary line as shown in FIG. 28 to allow editing on the frame boundary line. When the user drags a desired vertex through the operation section 12 same as step S4 (FIG. 9), the vertex is shifted and the shape of the frame boundary line is modified. By repeating this operation, shape (for example, change from a pentagon to a rectangle) and size of the frame boundary line can be changed. Also, a vertex may be added or deleted. Since the operation to add or delete a vertex is the same as step S4, the description thereof is omitted here.

When the size of a frame is slightly larger than the screen size of the digital book viewer 2, the authoring section 10 displays a frame boundary line of a frame slightly larger than the screen size of the digital book viewer 2 with a color different from that of the other frame boundary lines based on the information on the screen size of the digital book viewer 2 and the information of the information file. The case when the vertical and horizontal sizes of the frame is slightly larger than the screen size of the digital book viewer 2 is conceivable that, for example, assuming about 10% of the screen size of the digital book viewer 2 as the threshold value, a case where the length of a edge of the frame is larger by about 10% than the screen size of the digital book viewer 2. In FIG. 27, the frame boundary line of the frame with frame order 5 is indicated with a color different from that of other frame boundary lines.

In the frame slightly larger than the screen size of the digital book viewer 2, the scroll time can be reduced to once and the visibility can be increased by arranging a portion with little importance within the frame to be invisible as if the same is not included in the frame. As shown in FIG. 29, the position and shape of the frame boundary line of the frame with frame order 5 which is slightly larger than the border F are changed so that the scroll time becomes once. In FIG. 29, the frame with frame order 5 is arranged to be smaller so that a left end part is excluded from the frame resulting in scroll time of once.

After changing the scroll time as described above, the authoring section 10 detects the same and updates the information file. Also, the authoring section 10 changes the size of the marker to a×a, and changes the color of the frame boundary line of the frame with frame order 5 to the same color of the other frames.

The frame boundary line may be deleted or added. Since the method to add/delete the frame boundary line is the same as the method in step S4, the description thereof is omitted. For example, in a state a predetermined frame is selected, when a predetermined frame boundary line of the frame is selected by the user through the operation section 12, the selected frame is deleted. For example, when the size of the frame is small and the border F includes two frames, efficient display is possible by using a single frame.

The authoring section 10 is capable of displaying a preview screen on the monitor 15. FIG. 30 illustrates an example of the preview screen. The authoring section 10 displays a content image on the monitor 15 while superimposing the border F representing the screen size of the digital book viewer 2 on the content image. The authoring section 10 translucently covers over the outside of the border F to preview screen which is visible only the inside of the border F. Not only translucently covering over the outside of the border F, the outside of the border F may be covered over with gray color.

When the user gives an instruction through the operation section 12, the authoring section 10 scrolls the border F to display the next preview screen. When any frame is rest without being previewed, the authoring section 10 shifts the border F to show every frame under being previewed to translucently display the outside of the border F so that every frame can be previewed. In the example shown in FIG. 30, the border F is shifted leftward by a distance of “t”.

When the preview is completed on every frame under being previewed, the authoring section 10 shift the border F so that the right end of the frame with next frame order aligns with the right end of the border F, and translucently displays the outside of the border F.

With this, the user can check the state of the images on the digital book viewer 2. Accordingly, the master data can be edited more appropriately.

The edition processing of the master data is not limited to the case where the authoring section 10 creates the master data. A master data created by an external digital comic generating device may be stored in the DB 11 of the server 1 and edit the same.

According to the embodiment, master data of the content of a digital comic is created and edited by the delivery server of a digital book. However, as for the apparatus for creating the master data may be a digital comic editor different from the server which delivers the content. The digital comic editor may be configured with a general purpose personal computer in which a digital comic editing program according to the invention is installed via a storing medium storing the same.

The master data which is created and edited as described above is delivered through a server (delivery server) responding to a delivery request from various mobile terminals. In this case, the delivery server acquires a piece of information on the model of the mobile terminal. The master data may be delivered after being processed into the data suitable for browsing by the model (screen size etc); the master data may be delivered without being processed. When the master data is delivered without being processed, the master data has to be converted into the data suitable for the mobile terminal using viewer software at the mobile terminal side before the master data can be browsed. However, the master data includes an information file as described above. The viewer software uses the information described in the information file to display the content on the mobile terminal.

The invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment. Needless to say, various modifications are possible within a range of the spirit of the invention. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A digital comic editor, comprising: a data acquisition device configured to acquire a piece of master data of a digital comic, the master data including: an image file corresponding to each page of the comic, the image file having a high resolution image of the entire page, and an information file corresponding to each page or all pages of the comic, the information file having described therein a piece of speech bubble information including a piece of speech bubble region information representing regions of speech bubbles for containing dialogs of characters in the image; a display control device configured to control a display device to display an image thereon based on the image file in the master data acquired by the data acquisition device and to display an image representing speech bubble regions based on the speech bubble region information included in the information file in the master data while superimposing the same on the image based on the image file; an indication device configured to indicate a position on the image displayed on the display device; a speech bubble region addition device configured to add a new piece of speech bubble region information to the position indicated by the indication device; a speech bubble region deletion device configured to delete the speech bubble region information from the position indicated by the indication device; and an editing device configured to update the speech bubble region information included in the information file based on the speech bubble region information added by the speech bubble region addition device and the speech bubble region information deleted by the speech bubble region deletion device.
 2. The digital comic editor according to claim 1, further comprising a speech bubble region detection device configured to detect a piece of closed region information for enclosing a periphery of the position indicated by the indication device as a piece of speech bubble region information, wherein the display control device controls to display an image representing the speech bubble region based on the speech bubble region information detected by the speech bubble region detection device while superimposing the same on the image based on the image file, and the speech bubble region addition device adds the speech bubble region information detected by the speech bubble region detection device.
 3. The digital comic editor according to claim 1, wherein the speech bubble region information is a piece of vector data representing an outer periphery edge of the speech bubble region or a piece of mask data representing the speech bubble region.
 4. The digital comic editor according to claim 1, wherein the display control device controls to display an image of covered over speech bubble regions or an image drawn with the outer periphery edge of the speech bubble regions based on the speech bubble region information.
 5. The digital comic editor according to claim 1, further comprising: an image acquisition device configured to acquire an image file having a high resolution image of the entire page; a speech bubble region extraction device configured to analyze the image of the entire page acquired by the image acquisition device and automatically extracts the speech bubble regions in the image; an information file creation device configured to create an information file having described therein the speech bubble information which includes a piece of speech bubble region information representing a speech bubble region extracted by the speech bubble region extraction device; and a master data creation device configured to create a piece of master data of the digital comic, the master data including: an image file acquired by the image acquisition device for each page of the comic; and an information file corresponding to each page or all pages of the comic, which is created by the information file creation device, wherein the data acquisition device acquires a piece of master data created by the master data creation device.
 6. The digital comic editor according to claim 5, wherein the speech bubble region extraction device includes a text detection device configured to detect texts in the image and detects closed regions enclosing the periphery of the texts detected by the text detection device as the speech bubble region.
 7. A digital comic editor, comprising: a data acquisition device configured to acquire a piece of master data of a digital comic, the master data including: an image file corresponding to each page of the comic, the image file having a high resolution image of the entire page, and an information file corresponding to each page or all pages of the comic, the information file having described therein a piece of text region information representing text regions in the comic; a display control device configured to control a display device to display an image thereon based on the image file in the master data acquired by the data acquisition device and to display an image representing text regions based on the text region information included in the information file in the master data while superimposing the same on the image based on the image file; an indication device configured to indicate a position on the image displayed on the display device; a text region addition device configured to add a new piece of text region information to the position indicated by the indication device; a text region deletion device configured to delete the text region information from the position indicated by the indication device; and an editing device configured to update the text region information included in the information file based on the text region information added by the text region addition device and the text region information deleted by the text region deletion device.
 8. The digital comic editor according to claim 7, further comprising: a text detection device configured to detect a text adjacent to a position indicated by the indication device; and a text region detection device configured to detect a piece of region information for enclosing a periphery of the text detected by the text detection device as a piece of text region information, wherein the display control device controls to display an image representing the text region based on the text region information detected by the text region detection device while superimposing the same on the image based on the image file, and the text region addition device adds the text region information detected by the text region detection device.
 9. The digital comic editor according to claim 7, wherein the text region information is a piece of coordinate data representing each vertex on an outer periphery edge of a polygonal shape in the text region, a piece of vector data representing the outer periphery edge of the text region or a mask data representing the text region.
 10. The digital comic editor according to claim 7, wherein the display control device controls to display an image in which the text region is translucently covered over or an image in which the outer periphery edge of the text region is drawn based on the text region information.
 11. The digital comic editor according to claim 7, further comprising: an image acquisition device configured to acquire an image file having a high resolution image of the entire page; a text region extraction device configured to analyze the image of the entire page acquired by the image acquisition device and automatically extracts the text regions in the image; an information file creation device configured to create an information file having described therein the text region information representing the text region extracted by the text region extraction device; and a master data creation device configured to create a piece of master data of the digital comic, the master data including: an image file acquired by the image acquisition device for each page of the comic; and an information file corresponding to each page or all pages of the comic, which is created by the information file creation device, wherein the data acquisition device acquires a piece of master data created by the master data creation device.
 12. A digital comic editor, comprising: a data acquisition device configured to acquire a piece of master data of a digital comic, the master data including: an image file corresponding to each page of the comic, the image file having a high resolution image of the entire page, and an information file corresponding to each page or all pages of the comic, the information file having described therein a piece of region of interest information representing regions of interest in the comic; a display control device configured to control a display device to display an image thereon based on the image file in the master data acquired by the data acquisition device and to display an image representing a region of interest based on the region of interest information included in the information file in the master data while superimposing the same on the image based on the image file; an indication device configured to indicate a position on the image displayed on the display device; a region of interest addition device configured to add a new piece of region of interest information to the position indicated by the indication device; a region of interest deletion device configured to delete the region of interest information from the position indicated by the indication device; and an editing device configured to update a piece of region of interest information included in the information file based on the region of interest information added by the region of interest addition device and the region of interest information deleted by the region of interest deletion device.
 13. The digital comic editor according to claim 12, further comprising a region of interest detection device which includes a character detection device for detecting characters adjacent to a position indicated by the indication device and detects a piece of region information including the characters as the region of interest information, wherein the display control device controls to display images representing the regions of interest based on the region of interest information detected by the region of interest detection device while superimposing the same on the image based on the image file, the region of interest addition device adds a piece of region of interest information detected by the region of interest detection device.
 14. The digital comic editor according to claim 13, wherein the character is a face, and the character detection device is a face detection device.
 15. The digital comic editor according to claim 12, wherein the region of interest information is a piece of coordinate data representing each vertex on an outer periphery edge of the polygonal shape in the region of interest, a piece of vector data representing the outer periphery edge of the region of interest or a piece of mask data representing the region.
 16. The digital comic editor according to claim 12, wherein the display control device controls to display an image in which the region of interest is translucently covered over or an image in which the outer periphery edge of the region of interest is drawn based on the region of interest information.
 17. The digital comic editor according to claim 12, further comprising: an image acquisition device configured to acquire an image file having a high resolution image of the entire page; a region of interest extraction device configured to analyze the image of the entire page acquired by the image acquisition device and automatically extracts the regions of interest in the image; an information file creation device configured to create an information file having described therein the region of interest information representing the region of interest extracted by the region of interest extraction device; and a master data creation device configured to create a piece of master data of the digital comic, the master data including: an image file acquired by the image acquisition device for each page of the comic; and an information file corresponding to each page or all pages of the comic, which is created by the information file creation device, wherein the data acquisition device acquires a piece of master data created by the master data creation device.
 18. A digital comic editing method, comprising: a data acquisition step acquiring a piece of master data of a digital comic, the master data including: an image file corresponding to each page of the comic, the image file having a high resolution image of the entire page, and an information file corresponding to each page or all pages of the comic, the information file having described therein a piece of text region information representing text regions of the comic; a display control step controlling a display device to display an image thereon based on the image file in the master data acquired in the data acquisition step and to display an image representing a speech bubble region based on the speech bubble region information included in the information file in the master data while superimposing the same on the image based on the image file; an indication step indicating a position on the image displayed on the display device; a speech bubble region addition step adding a new piece of speech bubble region information to a position indicated in the indication step; a speech bubble region deletion step deleting the speech bubble region information from the position indicated in the indication step; and an editing step updating the speech bubble region information included in the information file based on the speech bubble region information added in the speech bubble region addition step and the speech bubble region information deleted in the speech bubble region deletion step.
 19. A digital comic editing method, comprising: a data acquisition step acquiring a piece of master data of a digital comic, the master data including: an image file corresponding to each page of the comic, the image file having a high resolution image of the entire page, and an information file corresponding to each page or all pages of the comic, the information file having described therein a piece of region of interest information representing the region of interest of the comic; a display control step controlling a display device to display an image thereon based on the image file in the master data acquired in the data acquisition step and to display an image representing a text region based on the text region information included in the information file in the master data while superimposing the same on the image based on the image file; an indication step indicating a position on the image displayed on the display device; a text region addition step adding a new piece of text region information to a position indicated in the indication step; a text region deletion step deleting the text region information from the position indicated in the indication step; and an editing step updating the text region information included in the information file based on the text region information added in the text region addition step and the text region information deleted in the text region deletion step.
 20. A digital comic editing method, comprising: a data acquisition step acquiring a piece of master data of a digital comic, the master data including: an image file of each page of the comic having high resolution image of the entire page, and an information file having described therein a region of interest information representing regions of interest of the comic; a display control step controlling a display device to display an image thereon based on the image file in the master data acquired in the data acquisition step and to display an image representing a region of interest based on the region of interest information included in the information file in the master data while superimposing the same on the image based on the image file; an indication step indicating a position on the image displayed on the display device; a region of interest addition step that adds a new piece of region of interest information to a position indicated in the indication step; a region of interest deletion step deleting the region of interest information from the position indicated in the indication step; an editing step updating a piece of region of interest information included in the information file based on the region of interest information added in the region of interest addition step and the region of interest information deleted in the region of interest deletion step.
 21. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a digital comic editing program causing a computer to execute: a data acquisition step to acquire a piece of master data of a digital comic, the master data including: an image file corresponding to each page of the comic, the image file having a high resolution image of the entire page, and an information file corresponding to each page or all pages of the comic, the information file having described therein a piece of speech bubble information including a piece of speech bubble region information representing regions of speech bubbles for containing dialogs of characters in the image; a display control step to control a display device to display an image thereon based on the image file in the master data acquired by the data acquisition step and to display an image representing a speech bubble region based on the speech bubble region information included in the information file in the master data while superimposing the same on the image based on the image file; an indication step to indicate a position on the image displayed on the display device; a speech bubble region addition step to add a new piece of speech bubble region information to a position indicated by the indication step; a speech bubble region deletion step to delete the speech bubble region information from the position indicated by the indication step; and an editing step to update the speech bubble region information included in the information file based on the speech bubble region information added by the speech bubble region addition step and the speech bubble region information deleted by the speech bubble region deletion step.
 22. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a digital comic editing program causing a computer to execute: a data acquisition step to acquire a piece of master data of a digital comic, the master data including: an image file corresponding to each page of the comic, the image file having a high resolution image of the entire page, and an information file corresponding to each page or all pages of the comic, the information file having described therein a piece of text region information representing a text region of the comic; a display control step to control a display device to display an image thereon based on the image file in the master data acquired by the data acquisition step and to display an image representing a text region based on the text region information included in the information file in the master data while superimposing the same on the image based on the image file; an indication step to indicate a position on the image displayed on the display device; a text region addition step to add a new piece of text region information to a position indicated by the indication step; a text region deletion step to delete the text region information from the position indicated by the indication step; and an editing step to update the text region information included in the information file based on the text region information added by the text region addition step and the text region information deleted by the text region deletion step.
 23. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a digital comic editing program causing a computer to execute: a data acquisition step to acquire a piece of master data of a digital comic, the master data including: an image file corresponding to each page of the comic, the image file having a high resolution image of the entire page, and an information file corresponding to each page or all pages of the comic, the information file having described therein a piece of region of interest information representing a region of interest of the comic; a display control step to control a display device to display an image thereon based on the image file in the master data acquired by the data acquisition step and to display an image representing a region of interest based on the region of interest information included in the information file in the master data while superimposing the same on the image based on the image file; an indication step to indicate a position on the image displayed on the display device; a region of interest addition step to add a new piece of region of interest information to a position indicated by the indication step; a region of interest deletion step to delete the region of interest information from the position indicated by the indication step; and an editing step to update a piece of region of interest information included in the information file based on the region of interest information added by the region of interest addition step and the region of interest information deleted by the region of interest deletion step. 